Brett

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(Note: this Part 1 of a Six-Part Series) If you live in the northern hemisphere then it’s that time of the year when things are getting cold and, depending on how far north you live, covered in white stuff. Around Thanksgiving I start planning my various winter outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, skiing and snowshoeing trips, and I thought it would be a good time to review some considerations for surviving and operating in winter conditions. Why would anyone want to be outside in the cold and snow? Because in a post-disaster scenario you may not have a choice, …

The post Cold Weather Considerations – Part 1, by JM appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.

There you are, sitting on the sofa reading an email saying that you gotten a promotion or you closed a client or whatever other happy news that you can receive. This causes a celebration...

The post Stoneware Vs. Ceramic Dinnerware appeared first on The Homestead Survival.

GPT section 6 coincides mostly was a rather well known Chilean trek, the Circuito Condor. There are even dedicated hiking maps for this route, a rarity in Chile. When I left the bus in Vilches Alto, the starting point of the Circuito Condor in a National Reserve, two dozen backpackers were already waiting to take that bus back into civilisation. Everything was fenced in to prevent the masses of backpackers from wild camping – I did it anyways …

But I obeyed the regulation that each hiker has to register with the park rangers and pay an entrance and camping fee. I soon realized that most backpackers were just hiking in for around 20 kilometers to the first view point and camping at the designated camp ground there. This view point was indeed very spectacular but what delighted me a lot more than the alpine panorama was the fact that there was a well maintained hiking trail descending down into the valley – another rarity in Chile …

First viewpoint and good trail!

First glimpse of Volcan Descabezado

 As I was still in the National Reserve that night I had to camp in a designated camp site, an old and long abandoned farmstead. I considered wild camping but the many old plum trees lured me into the official site where I met Hugo, a Chilean weekend warrior who had injured himself when hiking in and was now waiting for the rest of his group to help him hike out again. After hiking for weeks without company it was a pleasure to have someone to chat with for a while.
Next morning I met his friends who were coming back from having climbed Volcan Descabezado, the “beheaded” volcano. Although it is a relatively eassy climb I had decided not to summit it because I had already climbed too many mountains on this trip …

 

I passed the “base camp” where several tents were pitched while their owners were climbing the volcano. But I walked on to do a side trip to Laguna Caracol. The moon like landscape was so fascinating that I took an incredible number of photos. Despite the breathtaking scenery there was no other hiker and I camped all by myself next to an ice cold stream.

Next day took me forever through this moon like landscape and walking in volcano ash was pretty demanding. There is no trail marking, but luckily I could follow the footsteps of other hikers. A Chilean couple asked me for help because they wanted to take a different route and did not trust their smartphone navigation ….

I was totally amazed to find so much water in this otherwise totally barren landscape. Next to the small streams colorful flowers were just in bloom and the scenery looked like someone had started coloring it with one stroke of the paint brush.

My map showed hot springs along the trail but I had no intentions of reaching them that night because I thought that the place would be two crowded. But then I met two Chilean backpackers who told me that I would probably be on my own. There was no one camped there when they had left and they had not seen anyone going there. I decided to try my luck. Of course the trail seemed to drag on forever. There was even a swift river crossing to do until I finally reached the famous hot springs. If it had not been for the steam I would have missed them. And indeed, there was no one else there which meant that I could soak naked in the hot water. What a delight after a long dusty day!

There were three pools that had been dug out with an old rusty shovel which was still laying around. Unfortunately, as soon as I stepped into the pool all the muck from the ground started floating up. It was still nice to relax in the hot, but muddy water. When taking this picture with a timer my smartphone nearly fell into the water …

I slept very well that night despite the sulphur smell from the hot springs. Former visitors had even built rock walls as wind protection around the camp sites. And a big horse shoe collection told me that this was a popular spot for riders, too!

Still, I was not entirely happy when I left next morning. The map told me that I had to traverse several incredibly steep slopes – something that I had learnt to fear and to loathe on this trail.

The slopes turned out to be really steep and a fall looked potentially mortal, but luckily I was walking on volcano ashed which provides a wonderful tread. When I had passed an exceptionally scary section a group of seven day hikers with small backpacks were coming towards. They surprised me with a weird question: “Have you smelled anything strange?” I told them about the sulphur smell of the hot springs but they just shook their heads and left – leaving me rather clueless.

Veronica was waiting next to the lake

After climbing up to another spectacular pass and descending down to an alpine lake I found out what was behind that all. A lonely female was sitting next to the lake waiting for my arrival. She introduced herself as Veronica and told me that she had injured herself on the way up and asked me if I could accompany her down again. Of course I was willing to help but I wondered what she was doing here. Veronica was part of the volontary search-and-rescue team that I had come across earlier. They were looking for a 30 year old hiker called Sebastian Joffre who had gone missing here 16 day ago. Because there was only little hope that he would be found alive the SAR team had asked me for a “strange smell”…

This sad story told me that my fears of slipping and falling were not altogether unfounded …
In order to locate him Chilean military was coordinating a big search including soldiers, volunteers, helicopters and dogs. Their base camp was in the valley and Veronica was in contact with them via radio. But the military headquarter had not allowed her to try descending on her own. She was now waiting for her group to come back and help her, but she was afraid that they would arrive very late in the evening with very little daylight left for the descent. And then she would have to rush – something she could not do with her injured knee.

Paramedic, me and Veronica

What happened now was more like a story out of a James Bond movie than a normal hiking day. After she had received permission via radio to descend with me we slowly started hiking. In fact, despite her injured knee Veronica was still walking faster than me. Various times concerned military were asking for hour progress via radio and announced despite Veronica’s protests that they would send as a paramedic. And for sure when we had nearly reached the valley bottom two soldiers came towards us. Veronica had already told me that this rescue action was probably more due to the fact that one soldier had cast an eye on her than to medical necessity …

In order to “rescue” her, they had driven up the valley cross country in a military vehicle – and asked me whether I wanted to get a ride to their base camp. This was something I did not want to miss – and it was the bumpiest ride of my entire life! While Veronica was riding shotgun I was trying to stay alive in the back of the track while being thrown up and down.
I wondered why we had not waited for the rest of the rescue team but I was just told that they could walk back to base. Special treatment out here was apparently for women only! When we arrived in the base camp we were celebrated like heroes – but I still preferred to camp on my own a couple of kilometres away.

Nothing dramatic happened while I hiked out to civilisation the next morning …

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Washington — From exercise and GPS trackers to devices that measure on-the-job stress, ergonomics or potential exposure to chemicals, wearable sensors have become part of everyday life.

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The post Ring vs Simplisafe: Which Home Security System Is the Best? was written and published on 24/7 Home Security.

National Park Service (NPS) Deputy Director David Vela recently announced that the NPS successfully treated 230,308 acres of public land in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, helping to reduce wildfire risks in America’s national parks and safeguarding nearby communities, natural resources and infrastructure.

Prescribed fire was used to treat nearly 207,000 acres, and an additional 24,000 acres were treated by mechanical and other methods. In support of recently issued Executive and Secretary’s Orders calling for an increase in active management, 17,000 acres were treated through active vegetation treatments. A robust vegetation management program improves the resiliency of landscapes to wildfires and preserves public lands for a variety of uses and enjoyment by the public.

“The accomplishments of our fire and aviation programs are vital to meeting our mission as well as the Secretary’s priorities,” said National Park Service Deputy Director David Vela. “We are proud of the dedication and hard work completed over the past year by the men and women of the aviation, structural and wildland fire programs.”

In FY 2019, the bureau reached a milestone with over 90% of the 31,339 structures listed in the NPS Wildland Fire Geodatabase now surveyed for threats from wildland fire. Also in 2019, the areas adjacent to more than 6,000 structures were treated and the potential of risk from wildfire was reduced.

Research in wildland fire to better inform and fuels management is another high priority for the NPS. In 2019, the following five research projects were funded totaling $157,000:

• Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, California: Effectiveness of Fuel treatments on Wildfire in a Chaparral Community

• Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico: Identifying Activity Periods of an Endangered Salamander to Facilitate Fuels Treatments

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina: Changes in Woody Fuel Loading and Ericaceous Shrub Cover from 2003 to 2019 in Great Smoky Mountains NP

• Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska: Fire and Ice – integrated fire research to inform managers on the short and long term impacts of fire and climate on ice-rich permafrost soils, water resources, vegetation and wildlife habitat

• Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier national parks, Wyoming and Montana: Drivers of Early Postfire Tree Regeneration and Indicators of Forest Resilience in National Parks of the Northern Rocky Mountains

Within the NPS Structural Fire Program, NPS revised and updated all structural fire classes and added a hazardous materials class; this provides bureau structural firefighters with all the multi-faceted training needed for certification. More than 150 NPS employees were trained in structural firefighting, including 41 new firefighters, 26 new driver operators and 92 at firefighter refresher classes. In addition, 34 new park structural fire coordinators were trained during 2019. The program has also developed cancer awareness and prevention procedures and a grant to support structural firefighter gear cleaning for cancer prevention in parks.

Aviation continues to be an important multidisciplinary program for the NPS. In 2019, aviation resources supported wildland fire, search and rescue, law enforcement, and natural resources studies, surveys, and research missions. Approximately 11,000 hours of flight time, from 7,400 flights were conducted in 2019.

In addition to treatment projects conducted domestically, the DOI and U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which is a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, continue to support ongoing efforts to combat the wildfires in Australia. At the request of the Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, DOI and the USFS have deployed 150 firefighters thus far, 10 total from the NPS.

“The loss of life, property and environment are devastating in Australia,” said U.S. Secretary David Bernhardt. “The United States stands with our partners, and we will continue to support Australia in sending our world class personnel to contain these blazes and help protect Australian communities and wildlife.”

The U.S., Australia and New Zealand have been exchanging fire assistance for more than 15 years as the Australian and New Zealand personnel filled critical needs during peak wildfire season in the United States. The last time the U.S sent firefighters to Australia was in 2010.

Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com

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